A match-fixing scandal which may see up to thirty players in Austria’s top two football divisions convicted of betting-related corruption offences has prompted the country’s Worker’s Union (AK) to urge the government to enact strict restrictions on sportsbook operators that would see live, in-play and virtual betting banned.

Giving its support to calls for betting restrictions by Austrian Football Federation (ÖFB) chairman Dr Leo Windtner and Bundesliga president Hans Rinner, the AK claimed in a statement that the current “legal recourse against betting fraud is totally inadequate.”

The AK noted that Austria's Sports Minister Gerald Klug had introduced a new package of measures to prevent match-fixing, including a ban on bets being placed on in-match events such as corner kicks or penalties, with AK director Gerhard Schmidt calling the new legislation “an important first step.”